travel diary - Travel Vixta

Best places to SUP in and around Newquay Cornwall

Published on September 1, 2022September 5, 2023 by BenLeave a comment

If you’re a keen paddle boarder or even if you are thinking of buying a paddle board to use in and around Newquay then the following information should help you get the most out of your visit.

Stand-up paddleboarding is a great water sport that offers both exercise and relaxation. As a portable and affordable alternative to surfing or motor water sports, the stand-up paddleboard is ideal for your holiday on the north coast of Cornwall.

Newquay is a fantastic place to enjoy your paddleboard due to the variety of beaches, headlands and scenic coastline. There aren’t many places in Cornwall that offer this many beautiful locations so close together.

Continue reading →

Exploring Roughtor and Brown Willy with kids

Published on August 20, 2022August 30, 2022 by BenLeave a comment

Visit the highest peak in Cornwall and explore the surrounding moors with this amazing walk around Rough Tor, Little Rough Tor and to the top of Brown Willy. This is an adventure for the whole family with loads of amazing views, rocks to climb and wildlife to experience. It’s a great family fun day out.

Within this article, I’m going to share our experiences of this beautiful walk with our kids and point out a few helpful tips so that you can be prepared and get the most out of your visit. We visited during the summer (August) so it was at the height of the holiday season. Our kids are aged 7 and 10 so it’s always interesting to see how they get on during our slightly longer walks.

Continue reading →

St Erth to St Ives train ride (STUNNING coastal views)

Published on August 14, 2022January 6, 2023 by VictoriaLeave a comment

If you’re looking for an easy way to access St Ives without the hassle of trying to find a parking spot in one of the busiest towns in Cornwall then read on. Here’s our St Erth Park and Ride review with lots of helpful information to plan your journey.

It’s also one of the best coastal train rides in the whole of Britain with stunning scenery. I’ll share some photos below so you can see the type of amazing coastal views to expect!

Continue reading →

Watergate Bay to Mawgan Porth, South West Coastal Path walk

Published on July 2, 2022December 11, 2022 by VictoriaLeave a comment

Since walking from Perranporth to Newquay and also from Porth to Whipsiderry to Watergate, I’ve really wanted to explore the next stretch of the South West Coastal Path walking from Watergate Bay to Mawgan Porth.

I finally ticked it off my to-do list this week as I enjoyed an amazing 10km walk from my home in Newquay, past Whipsiderry and along the South West Coast Path at Watergate Bay to Mawgan Porth… where Ben greeted me with a lift home and a warm pasty! Yum! (Cauliflower and onion bhaji from The Cornish Bakery if you’re wondering… vegan-friendly!)

Read on to see my thoughts and photos from this glorious stretch of the coastal path.

Continue reading →

Glendurgan Garden, National Trust, Cornwall

Published on June 27, 2022August 11, 2023 by Victoria1 Comment

Last Sunday we visited Glendurgan Garden in Falmouth, Cornwall. It’s a National Trust site and so we had free entry and parking with our membership. Glendurgan is around a 50-minute drive from our home in Newquay through some lovely leafy country lanes around Falmouth.

The weather had looked a bit iffy on Sunday and likely to rain, so we looked for something to do that might be slightly sheltered or indoors on the National Trust app. Glendurgan looked great as although outdoors, perhaps sheltered with large trees and they had a couple of activities for the kids and a cafe if needed!

Thankfully, the weather stayed dry for our visit, but it was freezing! After a week of warm 20 degrees celsius, it was around 15 degrees on the day we visited and we really felt it, even in coats and trousers!

Since living by the coast we have really found the weather so unpredictable, especially with the coastal winds which can really cool down the temperature if they are cold!

Anyway, here are some photos from the Glenurgan gardens and a little information about what to expect if you decide to visit yourself.

Continue reading →

Bristol Botanical Gardens review

Published on June 8, 2022August 1, 2023 by VictoriaLeave a comment

If you’re looking for something calm and peaceful to do whilst in Bristol then I recommend a visit to Bristol Botanical Gardens. Here are my photos from our recent trip and my review.

Continue reading →

Eden Project Cornwall review, photos + helpful visitor information

Published on April 15, 2022June 28, 2023 by VictoriaLeave a comment

The Eden Project is an amazing place we had visited a couple of times in the past when the kids were dinky, but we have returned twice in the last month with the children now being 9 years and 7 years old. They couldn’t remember it from before, but Bella had a school trip recently and since moving to Cornwall last year, we decided it was great value to sign up for their annual membership so we can visit regularly throughout the next year.

Read on to see our March and April 2022 photos from the Eden Project and some thoughts on our two recent visits so you know what to expect. Discover some answers to some common questions about the Eden Project Cornwall and how you can save money if you are local, or if you regularly visit Cornwall and love the Eden Project.

Continue reading →

Beautiful 10km Newquay coastal walk: Whipsiderry to Watergate Bay along the beach, and back along South West Coast Path

Published on February 25, 2022December 11, 2022 by VictoriaLeave a comment

This is probably one of my favourite walks so far since living in Newquay. It was the first walk I did by myself: a 5km walk from the far end of Whipsiderry Beach to the far end of Watergate Bay. The first time I did it, Ben and the kids picked me up from Watergate Bay as they stayed and played at Whipsiderry. Just this week, we returned and we walked as a family to Watergate Bay and then back along the cliffs taking the South West Coast Path from Watergate Bay to Whipsiderry, back to where we’d parked the car.

Continue reading →

padstow lifeboat station rnli cornwall st mother iveys bay

Trevose Head Lighthouse to Mother Ivey’s Bay headland walk

Published on February 22, 2022January 1, 2023 by VictoriaLeave a comment

A couple of weeks ago we explored Trevose Head, a headland managed by the National Trust towards Padstow in Cornwall. We parked towards the tip of the headland not far from the lighthouse in a National Trust carpark. Check out my paragraph at the end to see how you can save money on a National Trust membership!

From Trevose Lighthouse we walked around Trevose headland to Mother Ivey’s Bay, passing the Padstow lifeboat station on the way, before walking back to the carpark via Booby’s Bay with Constantine Bay in the distance and past a rather incredible blowhole known as Round Hole.

Read on to see our photos from our Cornwall walk and more about what we saw.

Continue reading →

South West Coast Path from Perranporth to Newquay 17.7km walk! Stunning beaches!

Published on January 27, 2022August 29, 2023 by Victoria5 Comments

Wow, what a walk. 17.7km and 28,756 steps from Perranporth beach all the way to Newquay town! Ben had wanted to do this walk for a while, so we decided to postpone working one morning when we saw blue skies and the sun shining and take the South West Coast Path in Cornwall from Perranporth back to our hometown of Newquay!

Continue reading →

Tehidy Country Park – A free family day out in Cornwall

Published on January 22, 2022August 15, 2022 by BenLeave a comment

It was a cold autumn day when we decided to visit Tehidy Country Park, located just 10 minutes from Camborne and 5 minutes from Portreath on the north coast of Cornwall. We didn’t know fully what to expect but I’m happy to say it turned into the most amazing day out for us and our two children. The most exciting part of the day was experiencing the friendly nature of the local squirrel population. Sadly there weren’t any red squirrels but there was a vast range of other wildlife to enjoy as we walked around the country park.

Continue reading →